No Vacation With the ‘Rents This Year — and a Giveaway

Posted by Nicole

The beautiful beach at Wildwood Crest, NJ

Have you ever mooched off your parents and tagged along on vacation with them? Mr. Saver and I have — for the past five summers, in fact. Ever year for three decades, Mr. Saver’s parents have rented an efficiency room in the lovely beach community of Wildwood Crest, along with two-thirds of his dad’s side of the family. It’s like a family reunion on the beach, and we weren’t too proud to stay in the 2nd bedroom for a few days each year for free. We’d try to give them money, or bring some of the food (they’re Italian — they bring trays of chicken cutlets, eggplant parm and so on), but we’re rebuffed every time. They’d usually stay anywhere from 5-8 days, but we’d only come down for a few, that way they’d have time to themselves. Which is the least we could do.

Here in New Jersey, Wildwood Crest is one of the nicest beach communities in the state — it has miles of boardwalk, rides, games, food — and most importantly, wide, clean beaches with free admission. Yes, that means 99% of our state’s beaches require a daily or monthly beach pass that helps pay for the maintenance and staffing.

My favorite thing to do was go boogie-boarding with all the cousins – I could do it all day. Enjoying a Kohl’s soft ice cream cone or a funnel cake on the boardwalk rank up there, too. There are fireworks on the weekends, cocktails on the balconies and card games all night.

But this year, my in-laws called off their trip (the rest of the extended family is down there now, calling and telling us all about how the waves are, where they’re going to eat, and the latest gossip). They thought they’d save the money, what with all the family weddings, the need for a new car and other expenses. I was sorely disappointed by the news, but really, we were merely benefiting from my in-laws’ extreme generosity for the past few summers.

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Always buy secondhand. If that option doesn’t work for your current situation, make it yourself. If you lack the skills, save up your money and buy the best you can afford. Perform regular maintenance on the item to ensure its longevity.

My best money saving tip… Hmm… It would have to be recording your purchases! Since starting the blog and doing daily updates on my spending, I am much more critical of the purchases I make. If I make a stupid purchase and have to stare at it for a month? I know it won’t be up there the next month!

My money saving tip is to always wait at least 72 hours before making a huge purchase. Most times I forget all those “I want” items after sleeping on it. If an item is still lingering in my mind, the 72 hr waiting period is usually enough for me to read reviews (and possibly re-evaluate), find coupons, and price compare between stores.

So far, my best money-saving tip is making my own laundry detergent. Using Borax , Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, and soap flakes, one gallon of detergent is costing about 14-cents a gallon instead of close to $1.00 or more a gallon for store-bought.

My best money-saving tip is to set up individual accounts for irregular bills (i.e., auto insurance that is paid quarterly) in ING and have a portion of the total automatically deducted from checking each month. Then you will have it saved and ready when the bill comes.

Then, when the bill arrives, I try to pay it in full from checking instead of using the $ in the ING account. Then I move the total that had been saved in ING toward debt repayment or to stocks.

Wow- sounds like you have some pretty sweeeet in laws! That beach looks beautiful- I have always wanted to explore the east coast in more depth.. one day.. one day.

Hmm my best money saving tip.. all the ones I was thinking about were already mentioned (automate your finances, use cashback or reward credit cards)…

My best money saving tip I would say is to BYOL (bring your own lunch) at work. Saving $8-$10 a day really adds up. This also means avoiding buying Starbucks every day too =) Instead, put that money in savings and watch the compound interest gr-o–o-o-w! =)

My best money saving tip has to be to negotiate everything. There are always people who will trade a few bucks for your business. I save $5 on each haircut because I cut a deal with my barber last year. Plus, what’s the worst that can happen? They’ll say no and you’ll have to pay the regular price?

I try to save money on my vacations by booking them using a credit card that offers that best rewards/cash back. I also try to book my travel,hotel and car through mypoints.com thereby earning points on side which when accumulated could translate into awesome gift cards in popular stores. It also helps to get some gift cards on the side by using swagbucks. I use them to do them to do my regular internet searches and redeem for gift cards.

Now I want to go to the beach…well, not Galveston, but a pretty beach…

My money saving tip: Automate your finances as much as possible. Automatic retirement contributions ensure that you are saving for your future and you don’t even see the money in your paycheck to spend it. By having automatic savings contributions pulled out of your checking account, you can easily reach your goals and build a safety net (again, if you don’t see the money, it’s harder to spend it). By automating your bills, you don’t have late fees. I’m a huge fan. 🙂

I like to save money by using coupons whenever I can. Also I do a lost of research before buying something, so that I know which brand gives the best value for money. In fact I never almost walk into a store to buy something off the racks.